1. Opera vs. Soap Opera
The final argument for Lord of the Rings and its attributes for the fantasy genre is a combination of all of the above to bring you a singular experience that is akin to a grand opera. Even the structure of the three films, if seen from a birds eye view, is like a beautifully ascending piece of music worthy of the Classical Era. With its adventurous spirit that branches out from the Fellowship of The Ring and two small battles, through The Two Towers where the Fellowship is broken in three and we are introduced to the people of Rohan, Gollum and the talking trees of Fangorn Forest and finally with The Return Of The King where everything is at stake and, as only Gandalf can put it, "the battle for Middle Earth begins", Aragorn becoming King, Sam becoming the unsung hero of the whole story and the battle at Minas Tirith being one of the greatest screen spectacles..ever? If you aren't convinced that Rings is operatic in nature, think of Howard Shore's score and scenes like the trees marching on Isenguard in the Two Towers, or Pippin singing the lullaby over Faramir's suicidal attempt to be a valued son and Gandalf saving the day with his light. When compared to the loftiness of the Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones looks like a pessimistic episode of the Bold and The Beautiful. There are definitely epic moments in Game of Thrones - one's mind immediately jumps to one of the most recent episodes and the image of Dany marching with her army of Unsullied as her dragons screech over them - but it's really silly to compare. Lord of the Rings is a big screen epic. Game of Thrones is a small screen show. So, there you have it - five big claims from the Lord Of The Rings to be superior over Game Of Thrones. How will Martin's epic respond? Stay tuned to WhatCulture in the next few days to see the other side of the argument.